Students' perceptions of mobile-mediated corrective feedback and oral messaging in a WhatsApp chat group

Màster de Lingüística Aplicada i Adquisició de Llengües en Contextos Multilingües, Departament de Filologia Anglesa i Alemanya, Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2020-2021. Tutores: Elsa Tragant i Àngels Pinyana[eng] This study has been carried out in response to the scarcity of research dedicated to corrective feedback provision on mobile devices and the tendency for investigators and educators alike to overlook the multi-modal features of mobile instant messaging platforms, such as oral-based messages. The present study, attempts to bridge this gap by examining a class of 17 intermediate EFL learners and their perceptions towards receiving corrective feedback in a WhatsApp chat group (supplemented with a weekly feedback session on Zoom), which ran for the duration of 6 weeks. Screenshots of the chat were analysed to provide a comprehensive overview of interaction and participation with a special focus on oral messages. A semi-structured questionnaire was also administered to glean information regarding students' perceptions of the corrective feedback they received in the two modalities, in addition to their perceptions of oral-based messages. Findings revealed positive attitudes towards receiving corrective feedback in this manner, with a preference towards receiving more explicit corrective feedback. The production of oral messages was scarce, although students highly rated having the opportunity to use this feature

The Death of a Nuclear Warhead: The Environmental and Health Impacts of Nuclear Weapons Complex Activities

Global Green USA is committed to the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction, and urges the government to continue disarmament efforts. The disassembly of nuclear weapons must, however, be conducted in a manner that minimizes danger to human health and the environment. There are a number of risks involved in disassembly, some unique, others similar to the dangers of the production of these weapons. Even low doses of fissile and other materials used in nuclear weapons, for instance, have been shown to pose serious risks to human health and the environment. This report examines these and other dangers, taking a particularly close look at the NWC’s Pantex Plant (Amarillo, Texas), where nuclear weapons slated for removal from the stockpile are disassembled. This research was completed money allocated during Round 4 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at [email protected]://commons.clarku.edu/globalgreen/1000/thumbnail.jp

The Oak Ridge National Security Complex: Human Health and the Environment as Casualties of Hot and Cold Wars

This report reviews lingering and emerging dangers at the largest NWC site, the Oak Ridge National Security Complex in Tennessee. The Oak Ridge site is both a high- value target for terrorist attack, a source of environmental contamination, and a potential public health threat. This report examines the nexus between environment, health and security at Oak Ridge, and discusses known and potential dangers in each of these areas. This research was completed money allocated during Round 5 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at [email protected]://commons.clarku.edu/globalgreen/1001/thumbnail.jp

The Gaps in Health Care of the LGBT Community: Perspectives of Nursing Students and Faculty

Abstract Purpose: This study explored the perspectives of nursing students and faculty on health disparities of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health issues in an undergraduate BSN program. Methods: Study participants included a convenience sample of 167 nursing students and 16 faculty members (total 183) from a rural southeast regional university in the United States. Results: Of the respondents; 71% indicated that they had not received classroom or clinical instruction specific to the LGBT community compared to 29% who had received or provided instruction in LGBT health issues. Among students, the majority indicated they seldom received instruction on health concerns such as depression, suicide, and mental health issues that often affect the LGBT community. A chi-square test of independence found a significant interaction (X2(1) =19.739, p=.000) that indicated participants that perceived they were equipped with resources on LGBT health issues were also interested in gaining additional knowledge to provide culturally competent care. Conclusions: To continue to build on the progress made, healthcare providers need to examine their own personal biases toward the LGBT community. The need to include LGBT topics in nursing curricula to prepare a culturally competent workforce is essential to meet the health needs of all populations. Nurses are in a unique position to lead the way in creating change and directing the course of action to improve the quality of life and health outcomes for all, including the LGBT individuals. Key words: Health disparities, LGBT community, nursing students, nursing facult

Education in Cross-Cultural Settings: Psychological Underpinnings of Achievement in Papua New Guinea

Education and achievement in Papua New Guinea has received minimal attention in the psychological and educational literature. Although student motivation and achievement have been investigated in a large variety of cultures throughout the world, this has not been substantially extended to the developing world. The current study investigated a selection of psychological processes that contribute to student achievement in the context of a majority, indigenous and developing culture. Motivational goal orientations, learning and self-regulatory processes of 359 students from Papua New Guinea (PNG) were investigated. Structural equation modeling investigated the relations between the psychological variables. Results are discussed in the context of McInerney’s (2007) model of student achievement in cross-cultural settings

Maternally expressed, paternally imprinted, embryonic non-coding RNA are expressed in osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma and spindle cell sarcoma

In a human embryo it takes 8 weeks after fertilisation for the skeleton to begin to form, one of the last organs to develop before becoming a foetus. Mesenchymal progenitors, derived from neural crest cells, differentiate into chondrocytes where the skeleton is generated as a mostly cartilage template. Other mesenchymal progenitors envelop the template, activate runt related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) and bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) and differentiate into osteoblasts, where an osteoid matrix is secreted and subsequently mineralised to become bone.1 During development and up to late adolescence, cellular proliferation enabling skeletal growth is restricted to the metaphysis and epiphyseal line or “growth plate”. It is in the growth plate of long bones where most bone cancers develop, hence the predominantly childhood incidence of the cancer. Primitive mesenchymal cells undergo transformation to form a heterogeneous group of bone malignancies. The most common type of bone cancer in children is osteosarcoma, mostly initiated by tumour protein p53 (TP53) mutations. The second most common type of bone cancer in children is Ewing sarcoma, mostly initiated by a EWS RNA binding protein 1-Fli-1 proto-oncogene, ETS transcription factor (EWSR1-FLI1) fusion. There are an average of 160 and 55 new cases of osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma, respectively, every year in the UK. Five-year survival for both cancer types is 50% when diagnosed early. Five-year survival is 15% when lung metastases are present at diagnosis. Treatment progress for bone cancer is poor when compared to other cancers such as breast where there is a twenty-year survival of 70%. Bone cancer requires extensive and sometimes disabling multimodal treatment. Chemotherapy for osteosarcoma includes methotrexate, cisplatin and doxorubicin, which were developed in the 1940’s and 1970’s. Chemotherapy for Ewing sarcoma includes vincristine, ifosfamide and etoposide, which were developed in the 1960’s and 1980’s. If the tumour responds well to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, wide area resection or amputation is performed. New understanding of bone cancer biology leading to better diagnosis and better treatments is required

The RCSB Protein Data Bank: views of structural biology for basic and applied research and education.

The RCSB Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB, http://www.rcsb.org) provides access to 3D structures of biological macromolecules and is one of the leading resources in biology and biomedicine worldwide. Our efforts over the past 2 years focused on enabling a deeper understanding of structural biology and providing new structural views of biology that support both basic and applied research and education. Herein, we describe recently introduced data annotations including integration with external biological resources, such as gene and drug databases, new visualization tools and improved support for the mobile web. We also describe access to data files, web services and open access software components to enable software developers to more effectively mine the PDB archive and related annotations. Our efforts are aimed at expanding the role of 3D structure in understanding biology and medicine

Improved visualization of decomposing tattoos using optical coherence tomography

Tattoos can be used in forensic human identification as a secondary means of identification (other means being, but not limited to, personal descriptions and artefacts) allowing the identification procedure to be strengthened in this way. Despite this, the decomposition of tattoos is a topic not extensively studied in taphonomic research (study of how organisms decay). In this communication, we assess optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a method to reliably identify tattoos before and after decomposition, by imaging tattooed porcine samples. OCT was able to penetrate up to 3mm below the surface and visualize parts of tattoos after 16 days of decomposition, which were no longer visible and recognizable using conventional photography-based methods. We believe this imaging modality has the potential to increase the reliability of tattoos in forensic human identification

Library Publishing Curriculum Textbook

In the original, modular curriculum (2018) on which this textbook is based, each unit of the Library Publishing Curriculum contained an instructor’s guide, narrative, a slideshow with talking notes, bibliographies, supplemental material, and activities for use in a physical or virtual classroom for workshops and courses. This textbook version, produced in 2021, adapts the original narrative as the primary content (with very little additional editing) and incorporates the bibliographies, appendices, and images from the slideshow into a linear reading and learning experience for use by librarians or students learning on their own or as part of a classroom learning experience. The LPC hopes others use and extend this CC-BY version into even more learning opportunities to help create a more equitable publishing ecosystem

Laser capture microdissection (LCM) and whole genome amplification (WGA) of DNA from normal breast tissue --- optimization for genome wide array analyses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Laser capture microdissection (LCM) can be applied to tissues where cells of interest are distinguishable from surrounding cell populations. Here, we have optimized LCM for fresh frozen normal breast tissue where large amounts of fat can cause problems during microdissection. Since the amount of DNA needed for genome wide analyses, such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, is often greater than what can be obtained from the dissected tissue, we have compared three different whole genome amplification (WGA) kits for amplification of DNA from LCM material. In addition, the genome wide profiling methods commonly used today require extremely high DNA quality compared to PCR based techniques and DNA quality is thus critical for successful downstream analyses.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>We found that by using FrameSlides without glass backing for LCM and treating the slides with acetone after staining, the problems caused by excessive fat could be significantly decreased. The amount of DNA obtained after extraction from LCM tissue was not sufficient for direct SNP array analysis in our material. However, the two WGA kits based on Phi29 polymerase technology (Repli-g^®(Qiagen) and GenomiPhi (GE Healthcare)) gave relatively long amplification products, and amplified DNA from Repli-g^®gave call rates in the subsequent SNP analysis close to those from non-amplified DNA. Furthermore, the quality of the input DNA for WGA was found to be essential for successful SNP array results and initial DNA fragmentation problems could be reduced by switching from a regular halogen lamp to a VIS-LED lamp during LCM.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>LCM must be optimized to work satisfactorily in difficult tissues. We describe a work flow for fresh frozen normal breast tissue where fat is inclined to cause problems if sample treatment is not adapted to this tissue. We also show that the Phi29-based Repli-g^®WGA kit (Qiagen) is a feasible approach to amplify DNA of high quality prior to genome wide analyses such as SNP profiling.</p